Farmers ‘gherao’ officials at Sangrur village

Farmer today ‘gheraoed’ a team of officials that visited Gharachon village near Bhawanigarh along with a fire tender to extinguish farm fires in the area.

Led by Manjit Singh Gharachon, senior vice-president of BKU (Ugrahan), Bhawanigarh block, farmers ‘held up’ the Sangrur ADC, Bhawanigarh SDM, SP (Special Branch) and Bhawanigarh DSP for about two hours.

Gharachon said as the officials tried to extinguish the fires in the fields, a public announcement was made against their action. People gathered and ‘gheraoed’ the civil and police officers from 3 pm to 5 pm. He claimed that the officers were allowed to go following an assurance that no such action would be taken against any farmer in future.

SP Palwinder Singh Cheema refuted the farmers’ gherao claim. He said they had just assured them that no action would be taken against farmers obeying the rules.